What characterizes good public speaking? What makes you a good communicator? And most importantly, what would make you a VERY good communicator?
You’ve probably already noticed that it’s not that easy to give a good speech or deliver a convincing presentation. Whether it’s in front of a room full of people, a video conference or a video recording, speaking in front of an audience is a real challenge for 40% of people, sometimes even a real fear.
That’s why the objective of this article is to help you gain confidence and to give you some advice for you to get your message across in the best possible way.
Knowing the basics of good communication
Let’s start with the 3 elements of a good communication:
- body language
- intonations
- the wording you will use
You may already know that only 7% of human communication is through words, which means that 93% of our communication is non-verbal.
From this 93%, 50% is due to body language and everything that can be perceived by the eye. This includes many other factors, such as your gaze, your facial expression or even your posture. The remaining 38% of attention is focused on your intonation. This includes the melody of your wording and phrasing as well as the overall tone of your speech.
And yet, it is the 7% of verbal communication, and the words we are going to say, that we spend the most time on, to the detriment of what really matters: non-verbal communication.
Extra tip: during your next presentation or conference, pay attention to the way you interact with the audience through your body language and your intonation!
Put yourself in the audience's shoes
Moreover, it seems that there are 3 comprehension profiles in the population: the visual ones represent about 65% of the population, the auditory ones 35% and the kinesthetic ones 5%.
Moreover, it seems that even though we are all a mix of various profiles, there are 3 major comprehension types in the population: the visual ones represent about 50% of the population, the auditory ones 30% and the kinesthetic ones 20%.
To these 3 types of understanding correspond 3 learning styles:
- visual learning: through sight, thoughts, energies
- auditory learning: through the ability to translate thoughts and emotions
- kinesthetic learning: touching, acting, imitating, participating…
To summarize, speaking in public will require you to work in 3 stages
- work on the message you want to convey
- work on the slides, the famous graphic and visual support that will be there to support your speech
- and finally, work on yourself, your posture, the image you will send back
You probably know the following expression: “You only have one chance to make a good first impression.” Well, in order to give a successful speech, the first few seconds are crucial. It is during these few seconds that you will manage or fail to captivate your audience. So, it is easy to understand that they are decisive for the rest of your speech.
Extra tip: Involve the audience from the very beginning of your speech, for example with an original icebreaker or by asking an intriguing question. This way, you make a good impression right away and gain everyone’s attention for what you want to say next.
Always be authentic and have fun
There are a lot of elements involved, but the most important thing is to be passionate, sincere and authentic. You must not address the brain but the heart of your audience. Speaking is not a performance, it is not a show, it is simply a desire to communicate.
So if you are shy or stressed but you know your subject well, and are really interested in it, if you try to be smiling, positive, enthusiastic and to come across as sincere and authentic, then you will give off a feeling of confidence to your audience and that is how you will deliver a successful speech.
There are also many other criteria but we can identify five main groups:
- your appearance and posture
- your looks, gestures and facial expressions
- your breathing, your silences and your transitions between ideas
- your intonation and your flow/rhythm
- your stress management
Extra tip: Don’t forget to be yourself, to smile (a little) and to have fun (a lot)!
Go step by step, to be a good communicator and succeed in your speeches, you need a lot of training, so don’t be discouraged, you will succeed (:
If you liked this article and you want to put into practice what you have learned, ask for an appointment in one of our showrooms near you to create your first video!
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